It was a complete crap-hole. I can't see how any one would say it should host an Olympic event. The dog thing appeared to be a constant across eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey all had TONS of dogs running around).

Other things....Hopefully the places in Sochi have decided to start taking credit cards. That was a royal pain in the ass when we were there. In the US, EVERYWHERE takes credit cards. In Sochi, NO WHERE took credit cards.

And the hotel thing in Sochi doesn't surprise me. I stayed in a hotel in Greece a few weeks before I was in Sochi. Let's just say, crappy American hotels (Motel 6 for instance) are amazing compared to the dives in some of those countries. What I paid for a not-very-good hotel (lumpy bed, leaky shower, etc) would get me into a Holiday Inn in LA/NY, which are actually damn decent. We really have it good. Our hotel chains give a nice consistency that is sorely lacking in other parts of the world.

Bucky Katt:I've seen the don't flush tp thing in other countries. Meh.

What's surprising is all the time and money they've had to build infrastructure, but they still expect people to dump their shiat stained toilet paper into a waste basket. Heck, they could have gone with a bidet if they really didn't want people flushing toilet paper. This just isn't what people should see when they're hosting a world class event.

The real shiatstorm hasn't even started. Athletes are going to miss events because of poor transportation. Protesters are going to get shot. Judging is going to be even more corrupt than usual. A few countries will actually pull out entirely. Equipment thefts will cause major disruptions. Throw in a few high profile kidnappings and we're going to see one hell of a show.

And to think, they won the bid over Salzburg, arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I stayed in a youth hostel in Salzburg that was honest to god, 1,000 times nicer than what I'm seeing in here.